State drops warming suit against carmakers

GLOBAL WARMING

State Attorney General Jerry Brown agreed Friday to drop a global warming lawsuit that accused the six largest automakers of damaging California's resources by selling vehicles that emit large amounts of heat-trapping gases.

Brown's predecessor, Bill Lockyer, filed the suit in 2006 against General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and the North American outlets of Toyota, Honda and Nissan. The suit alleged that the companies' cars were a significant cause of climate change and have already contributed to problems ranging from a decline in the Sierra snowpack to increased air pollution and wildlife hazards.

U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins dismissed the suit in September 2007, saying it raised issues of interstate commerce and foreign policy that should be addressed by the president and Congress, not the courts. He also noted that the cars were sold legally and that global warming has many causes.

Brown asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to reinstate the suit, but withdrew the appeal Friday. He said recent policy changes by the Obama administration were moving in the same direction, including its increase in federal fuel-economy standards and the Environmental Protection Agency's acknowledgement that greenhouse gases are a public health hazard.

The EPA has also agreed to reconsider California's request to set its own standards for emissions of carbon dioxide and other temperature-raising gases from cars and trucks, a proposal the agency vetoed under President George W. Bush.

"The EPA and the federal government are now on the side of reducing greenhouse gases," Brown said in a statement.